Memories
by Dancingqueen4Life
Summary: A mission goes south and Natasha has a hard time remembering some of the most important moments in her life. But Clint has an idea to help her. The only question is, will it work? Or will they be forced to continue their lives as if they just started working together? Please read and review.


As Clint sat by Natasha's bedside, he found himself thinking over the mission, trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. Where he'd messed up to land Natasha in medical, missing a fair amount of her own blood.  
He was pulled from his thoughts by a coughing sound, and when he turned to look at Natasha, he found her green eyes locked on his.  
"Tasha." He breathed.  
"Barton, you're touching me." She rasped, getting her voice used to talking again.  
"I'm just holding your hand, Tasha." He said.  
"That's my point. Why are you?"  
"Tasha-"  
"My name is Romanoff, not Tasha.." She said, giving him a look.  
Clint had opened his mouth to reply, but it instantly snapped shut when his brain processed what she'd said. Suddenly, the doctors' voices were filling his head.  
_Severe head trauma. Potential memory loss. Likely amnesia._  
"Tasha," Clint said carefully. "What's today's date?"  
"What are you asking me for, Barton?" She asked.  
"Please, Tasha, please answer the question."  
"It's the 21st of May." She said easily.  
Clint nodded, even as his insides began twisting around themselves. "What year?" He asked.  
"2005."  
Clint closed his eyes and let his head fall forward as a sigh got caught in his throat.  
"That's the wrong answer, isn't it?" She asked quietly.  
"Yeah." Clint murmured.  
"What's the date?"  
"The 22nd of May." He said.  
"I'm only a day off then. That's no big deal. Wait-" Natasha finally noticed Clint's pained look. "What year?"She continued.  
"2008." Clint replied, his eyes finally looking at her but avoiding her eyes.  
There was silence after his response as both parties processed what they'd heard.

"You're lying to me." Natasha finally said. "There's no way I lost 3 years."

"I have no reason to lie." Clint said softy.

Before Natasha could reply, Clint had taken his phone out of his pocket and was scrolling through it. As Natasha looked on, the background picture caught her by surprise.

"What is that, Barton?" She asked gesturing to the picture.

It was fairly simple, really. Clint had his arms around Natasha and was smiling at the camera while Natasha was leaning in and kissing his cheek.

_She _was kissing _his _cheek.

That didn't make sense.

Clint pulled her from her thoughts after he'd managed to figure out what was bothering her.

"Don't worry about it, Tasha. I never take this phone on missions. When we leave, it gets locked in my I'm not on missions, it doesn't leave my sight. No one will ever see it."

Natasha nodded, but she couldn't ignore what the picture meant. Finally she decided to mention it.

"So something changed. Between us." Natasha said.  
"Yeah." Clint said as he turned his phone around and showed Natasha the date, year and all. Natasha sighed but didn't speak for a while.  
"What are we, Barton?" Natasha finally asked, almost fearing his answer.  
"We're partners. Working through a difficult situation."  
"Don't pull that shit with me. When you walked in here and sat down and held my hand, what were we?"  
"Together." Clint replied.  
Natasha nodded. "Do I have a chance of remembering?"  
_Or is this going to be like it was in the Red Room?_ Went unsaid.  
"I will find a way for you to remember." Clint said fiercely.  
"How?" Natasha asked. When Clint finally worked up the courage to meet her eyes, he couldn't hold back the wince that escaped when he noticed that her normally vibrant eyes were dull and lifeless.  
Suddenly, Clint jumped up and made his way toward the door.  
"I'll be back soon. Don't go anywhere." He said. Natasha shot him a look that had Clint laughing to himself. "Right. Stupid thing to say." He mumbled before turning and walking out.

* * *

When she was alone, Natasha allowed herself to think, but forced her thoughts to not go back to her life in Russia.  
So she and Clint were together. Honestly, she wasn't surprised. Even a blind man could have seen that they'd end up together.  
What had surprised her was the amount of time they'd been together. When she'd allowed herself to think of them together, it had never lasted longer than a few months. They were both too stubborn and hot headed for anything to last longer than that between them. And yet, somehow it had.  
Natasha was saved by any other thoughts on the subject when the door opened and Clint returned.  
"The doctors wanted to come in, but I wouldn't let them." He said, earning a grateful look from Natasha.  
"What do you have?" She finally asked after he sat down next to her.  
"Pictures. Or, well, the closest thing we have. I heard somewhere that images can help with memory issues."  
Natasha nodded and managed to scoot over slightly, silently inviting Clint to sit next to her on the bed.  
Clint stood from his chair and situated himself next to her with the book on his lap. Now that she could see it more closely, she could tell that it was a scrapbook of some kind.  
"You ready?" Clint asked.  
"Yeah." Natasha said quietly.  
Clint set the book down and opened it to a page.  
"This is what you meant by pictures." Natasha said, trying to control the laugh threatening to break free.  
Clint just smiled at her. "Istanbul." He said pointing to the first postcard. "Our first mission together after you agreed to go on a date with me."  
"What happened?" Natasha asked.  
"I almost blew the op."  
"Why?"  
"You were fighting 10 guys and I got worried. I'd seen you fight more without issues, but something snapped."  
"What did I do to you?"  
Clint smiled slightly. "You beat the shit out of me during sparring for a week. Then you kissed my cheek and that was that."  
Natasha nodded. "Paris?" She asked.  
"We were outnumbered. Got ourselves pushed into an alley."

"How did it end?" Natasha asked.

"I was in a coma for a week."

Natasha gave him a quick once over before turning back to the book. She glanced at all the different cities they'd been to, trying to force herself to remember just one of them.

"Belfast?"

"We managed to piss off some IRA members. Got ourselves locked in an abandoned warehouse for a few days."

"Who got us out?"

"Coulson. He gave us a 2 hour lecture on remaining inconspicuous after missions. "

"Did it do any good?"

"Our next mission the almost exact same thing happened. "

"How pissed was he?"

"He said he'd contemplated not getting us out."

"So not very then." Natasha said with an almost smile.

"Not very. Clint agreed.

"Are all of these from botched missions?" Natasha asked after another moment of silence.

"No. In Venice we actually managed to get out without screening up. "

"Which makes it the , what, 5th time we managed that?"

"Basically."

With a smile, Natasha flipped through the pages, occasionally pausing to ask Clint for specifics, which he readily gave.

Eventually, Natasha turned the last page, and was greeted by a sight she hasn't been expecting.

"Barton, what is this?" She asked.

"We were in Alaska and I managed to get out of bed early enough to go running with you. We ended up on a mountain at sunrise, and I decided to take a picture."

"What was our mission?" Natasha asked, confused.

"It wasn't a mission. Fury forced us on a two week vacation after a mission went to shit, and we both almost died. We spent the time at the cabin I built."

Natasha nodded. She continued to stare at the picture, trying to remember anything about it.

"When was it?"

"A month ago." Clint replied as he smiled at the picture.

"It was cold." Natasha said. "There was still snow on the ground and that's why you didn't want to wake up."

Clint stared at her in shock but nodded. "I complained about my blanket leaving, and you told me I could wither go with you or stay and hope you'd be tired enough to sleep when you returned."

,then I punched you for calling me your blanket."

"Right before you kissed me and slipped out of bed."

"I was already running when you caught up to me. So we decided to run up a mountain."

"And I took the picture."

Natasha nodded in silence. "I remember this."

Clint's face lit up with his smile. "You do?"

"Yeah. I remember all of these. I remember that I was worries we'd only last a few months, and you said that it was better to try for a few months and have them be wonderful than to never try and never know."

"And I hold to that."

Natasha smiled up at him. "Good." She said.

Clint leaned down and pressed a kiss to her head.

"What else do you remember from that day?"

"I remember being annoyed that you were taking the picture. You said 'relax, Tasha. I just want a picture of myself with the woman I love.' And I told you love was for children."

"And I said, 'Then let's be children.'"

"And I agreed."

Clint smiled at Natasha and learned in slowly until their lips were touching.

"I'm glad you did." He murmured against her lips.

"Me too." She said before kissing him again.


End file.
